Friday, March 13, 2009

Play with the bull, deal with the horns

Everyone's talking about it, so I need to follow the lemmings. Jon Stewart interviewed Jim Cramer last night after a week of shtick and dickish retorts. Anyone who regularly reads what I have to say in between impossibly cute pics of my family knows that I'm a big fan of "The Daily Show". I love where their writers and personalities have come from and I believe that they do a better job of media criticism than anyone in the muddled age we live in. Last night was one of their most exemplary moments deserving of said praise. First off - I won't feel sorry for Jim Cramer. I'm way too acquainted with his horrific dotcom venture - theStreet.com - which promoted, um...the dotcom bubble and little else. And his show "Mad Money" is the worst of the worst in terms of trying to expand an audience for business reporting using nothing but crappy gimicks and bombast. But that pinata got beat down like none other last night and I feel some of Cramer's pain. He's screwed. Let's not forget that Jon Stewart almost single-handedly destroyed Tucker Carlson and led to the cancellation of "Crossfire" on CNN. In this case, I don't see how CNBC can possibly run "Mad Money" using the same format as they did up until yesterday. Overstatement is the crazy aunt living in the basement of anyone that spends time blogging. But last night was a slaughter. Jon Stewart is the smartest man working in the media today. Hopefully he continues to do the same thing for many tomorrows to come. Don't take my word for it, though. Watch the whole unedited interview for yourself.